Cooking utensils used for forming an elongated cavity within a bread item and toasting the interior of the bread item are well known. Such a cooking utensil is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,808 to Chomette, which describes an elongated cylindrical spike that is used to puncture and extend within the bread item to form a cavity. The spike is heated with an internal heating element to toast the surface of the bread item within the cavity. Once the toasting is complete, the bread item can be removed to receive various condiments and a meat item within the cavity. However, the cavity formed with this cooking utensil includes a continuous elongated cavity simply sized to receive the meat item. As such, there is difficulty in inserting the meat item, such as, a frankfurter or sausage within the cavity while maintaining a sufficient amount of room for condiments, such as relish, ketchup, mustard, etc., along the entire length of the cavity and the meat item. Often, trying to spread and position the condiments over the entire length of the cavity around the meat item results in smashing or tearing the bread item.
Another problem evident with the Chomette reference and the present state of the art is found in the difficulty of manually centering and inserting the bread item without having the elongated spike miss the center and puncture holes through side portions of the bread item. Such incidences can cause waste and often result in the food-preparer burning his or her hands or fingers while manually trying to penetrate the bread item with the heated cylindrical spike.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a cooking utensil configured to form an elongated cavity in a bread item that substantially prevents the above-described difficulties and problems in the present state of the art.